Finally, I was able to finish this series and got to cross out one item from my currently watching list. It’s been so long that I can’t even remember when did I start watching it. Maybe after I’ve seen Angry Mom, early this year. I remember seeing these two series on dramabeans feed and deemed both interesting.
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| Twenty Again (Courtesy of tvN) |
The story circles on Ha No Ra, a mom who got pregnant right after high school (she graduated, hasn’t she?). She followed the father of her child, Kim Woo Chul, to Germany and gave birth to their child abroad.
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| No Ra Raising Her Child in Germany |
Now that they’re back in Korea, the couple is on the verge of getting a divorce. Kim Woo Chul told No Ra that they can’t communicate with each other because of the difference in their educational attainment (Woo Chul is a quite renowned psychology professor). They agreed to be together (or at least pretend to) until their now 20-year old son, Min Soo goes to college.
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| Twenty Again Episode 1 |
No Ra, still having feelings for her husband asked him to give her more months before filing the divorce. To fill the communication gap, she decided to go to college and keep the fact from Woo Chul and Min Soo. However, with Kim Woo Chul’s transfer and Min Soo’s failing his first school choice, the three ended up going to the same university.
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| No Ra’s Ahjumma Outfit on Her First Day of School |
Coincidentally, Cha Hyun Suk, No Ra’s friend from high school teaches at Woocheon University as well. He has this little crush on No Ra way back then. That’s why he acts coldly to her as he can’t still accept the fact that No Ra left everything in Korea for Woo Chul.
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| Cha Hyun Suk and Ha No Ra |
As Ha No Ra goes through college life, she will be able to reevaluate how a then confident, full of dreams girl turned to this low self-esteemed woman. She’ll be able to relive her dreams as a dancer as well.
Okay. Comments time. Twenty Again reminds me of both Angry Mom and Heartstrings. Angry Mom because of moms attending the same school as their child and Heartstrings because of the university setting and the anniversary play thingy. Seriously, what’s with Korean universities who treat this as a very extravagant, once in a life time event. 80% of Heartstrings is all about this performance thing. Fortunately, Twenty Again‘s story doesn’t revolve much around it. It still plays a major part of the plot though as Cha Hyun Suk is producing the said play and Ha No Ra is helping him in his office.
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| Twenty Again Episode 16 |
It is a very light drama with no freaking I-want-to-smash-your-face antagonist nor grandiose plot. And these kinds of series has the tendency to either become a very heartwarming, feel-good series or a very boring, lose drama. For me, Twenty Again is more on the latter. Thankfully, it has only 16 episodes (much better if they were less). I recommend watching this series maybe two or three episodes a week. It’s not something you can marathon in one sitting. See how I ended up parking this series after watching few episodes consecutively. Somehow, you’ll loose your interest as this kind of drama is not the one that will make you highly anticipate its ending. It’s more like your everyday drama that missing one of its episode isn’t a big deal.
One thing I really don’t like is how Ha No Ra is such a frustrating character. I was always like “Come one, girl. Don’t be so timid!”. She talks really slow. Even though I’m watching at 2x speed, she sounds just fine. Maybe because I can’t help but seek Can’t Lose‘s Lee Eun Jae in her. I just like the confident and proud Eun Jae way better.
The university setting is the main reason I’ve got to finish this series. You all know that I’m so much fond of school dramas. And a series that depicts life of college students is something I can always relate to. I’ve been with that horrible class enlistment, too! Staying up ’til registration opens at exactly 12 midnight. Oh boy, you just miss school, don’t you?
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| “You Go to College Only Once” |
P.S.
I’m glad that I finished Twenty Again after Persevere, Goo Hae Ra. It makes the goodie-goodie, nice guy Min Soo Kim Min Jae’s last image on my head.
Right! Just remembered it while doing the recaps. The reason I found this drama interesting at first, and was able to marathon the first few episodes is because of No Ra’s false diagnosis. She thought she’s going to die of pancreatic cancer within six months time. Can’t believe I totally forgot that. It actually has a good potential for plot development, but yeah, the drama is supposed to be light. No Ra came to know that she was diagnosed wrongly right away on the third episode.
